Detour | Pop Up Screens Outdoor Cinema

Have you guys SEEN the weather for this weekend in London? Okay FINE, only Saturday, but 29c and sunny?! Hell yeah!

You can’t let Saturday slip by without an awesome plan, because let’s face it, this could be the last day of the year that allows us to bask in A. Hot sunshine without B. It pissing down with rain. Don’t let me down, make this day count!

And if you don’t have an awesome plan? Well your fairy blogmother is here to help you with that.

You’d have to have had your head in the sand if you’ve not heard about pop up cinema’s in and around London over the summer. (If you literally did have your head in the sand that does mean you were on vacation somewhere beachy and awesome, and I’m jealous, very jealous). There’s a bunch of companies running these events, though I’m always a little reluctant to book them because the weather is so damn unpredictable.

But tomorrow is your day to visit an outdoor cinema, people!

A few Sundays ago, when the sun shone bright like Kim K’s diamond ring, and the heat threatened to scorch my lily white skin that had forgotten what UV rays even were, I discovered Pop Up Screenswere screening Footloose in my local park.

I’m kinda embarrassed to admit that I’ve never seen Footloose. Then again there’s a long list of iconic movies I’m yet to see, I’ve just been too busy getting through the Harry Potter and Twilight series y’know? (*ducks for cover, and high fives the Potter & Twilight fans).

It was time to right this wrong, (not seeing Footloose I mean), and I immediately booked tickets online.

We arrived at my local park in Fulham, armed with blankets, drinks and pick n mix sweets, all the essentials for an evening of movie watching under the stars (or under the smog if I’m to be completely precise).

Pop up Screens have a little food joint that sells drinks, popcorn and burgers, so we stocked up on all of that too. There is no such thing as being over prepared when it comes to snacks.

And then we settled in, munching on burgers and waiting for the sun to go down.

It did become apparent pretty quickly that what we considered essentials for movie watching were just the bare minimum compared to what others were marching in with. So we watched with envy as people set up really comfortable reclining seats, placed comfy pillows on their blankets to snuggle into, and even set up little tables to spread out their impressive picnic.

Note to self, add reclining seats to my must-by list.

I distracted my ‘not as comfortable as the seat reclining viewers’ self with the packets of sweets I’d made for us. (Striped bags purchased from Tiger).

The sun eventually pissed off went to sleep and the screen lit up, with that iconic song blasting out at us ‘… now I gotta cut loose, Footloose, kick off your Sunday shoes’. I didn’t kick off my Sunday shoes, because it was getting much too chilly by that point, but I jigged along to the song because I couldn’t help myself, it’s impossible to sit still when that song is playing.

A couple hours later the movie credits rolled up the screen, and we rolled up our blankets having ticked both ‘outdoor cinema’ and ‘Footloose’ off our life bucket lists. It was a surreal experience leaving my local park that late at night, I only see it during early morning runs and the occasional sunbathing session!

It was so much fun and you Londoner’s need to get your picnic blankets (AND reclining seats) down to a park to indulge in an outdoor cinema session. Tomorrow evening Four Weddings and a Funeral is screening in Holborn if you fancy a bit of Mr Grant up close and personal.